Cocoposts

Udall for Senate

Yesterday at the Hispanic Cultural Center.

Eclipse Lunar

Beautiful. It does bring out the moon's dimensions and details and makes it look much closer and larger. This photo from Vancouver Sun of last March eclipse.

This astrologist, Molly Nagy, (who?) says it's an Anything Goes Moon. Some call the August moon the Sturgeon Moon.

We could call it the Developer Moon, in recognition of the great construction and land speculation acts that have beaten driven our economy.

The New Mexico Boys at Bataan

Ordered to surrender to the Japanese on Bataan, the "New Mexico boys" came down the mountainside from the high ground where they had intended to fight.

Excellent Jim Belshaw in the Albuquerque Journal about Ken Burns's new World War II documentary and how he was persuaded to add footage about Manuel Armijo and the many others from the state in the National Guard at Bataan.
Photo from the National Guard site.

A bizarre landscape stretched out below them, an abstraction with odd shapes and colors. Haphazard rectangles of white broke up the lush, tropical green. Bedsheets stretched across bushes and tied between trees signaled to the boys coming down the mountain. White flags. Surrender. "It was horrible," he said. "On the way down the mountain, I cried. So did the rest of the boys." Those would be the "Santa Fe boys" and the "Albuquerque boys" and all the rest of the 1,800 New Mexico boys ordered to surrender on Bataan. Half of the 1,800 would die in Japanese captivity.

North Valley Election?

The Albuquerque Journal takes the cake with this very confusing story that describes the upcoming neighborhood association board election but then provides polling locations for Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District vote.

There is, of course, a Big. Ass. Difference.

Most neighborhood associations have no authority for much of nothin'. Many aren't even registered non-profits. They can be representative and active and do good work, no doubt. But as far as new development review goes, they are just another forum for witnessing and whining and sometimes helping someone sue.

They provide a way to get the bulk of the displeasure sounded-out before zoning cases get to the very full agendas of the planning commissions. The planning boards themselves are only advisory to the Council or Commission. NA's are thus thrice removed from having any say about development except whether their elected official at the time listens to them. (And they do listen to the North Valley Neighborhood Association.)

The MRGCD, on the other hand, controls/manages/owns a whole bunch of water rights and the irrigation ditches and valley drainage systems for a really big area. Much bigger deal. Even if Mayor Marty is speaking at the neighborhood association meeting.

The MRGCD election is Tuesday and here's the info from the website.

Go Gussy!

Rape Santa Fe Style

From  The Santa Fe New Mexican comes an interesting tale.

Hundreds of local women used e-mail to circulate photos of a man police suspect is behind a series of sexual assaults in Santa Fe. And police said today the emails contributed to the man's arrest.

.... She slammed the door before the man could enter her office and immediately called 911. By the time police arrived, he was gone. Later, the woman checked security camera footage and told police the suspect had been caught on tape. It was about five days before investigators picked up the footage, she said. ...

Were they too busy?  And after they finally got around to it, they requested that photos not be published.  The guy was having a bad hair day.  No wait.  That's not it.

...Investigators said a victim of one of the attacks would be asked to pick the man’s photo from a line up and releasing the images could compromise the case.

Ummmm.   I smell a hint of rape testimony-doubt and victim-blaming wafting in here like a little dead something on the edge of the trail.   Smells like concern about screwing up the case or about how getting a conviction is hard considering prevailing notions about rape and assault victims somehow deserving it.  Lame and misogynistic crap would head in the general direction of how it would compromise the case.   

Releasing the image might have prevented him from raping another woman.  Compromise that.   

Wait, wait.  Don't tell me.  Is it because if he's free to rape again they'll be even more evidence?  Eight cases aren't enough?

KRQE News Editor Michelle Donaldson said after a long meeting, her team decided to comply with the police request and only showed a portion of the footage that obscured the man’s face on its 10 p.m. broadcast.

Confirming that local TV news exists to mildly titillate in-between the truck ads. 

“They wanted to protect their investigation. We respect that,” Donaldson said of police. “It’s a fine line. Where does their responsibility to the investigation end and where does a journalistic organization’s begin?”

  The New Mexican too.

    Managing Editor Rob Dean said he found credibility in the police request to withhold the images. “Our biggest interest was in not jeopardizing the criminal investigation,” said Dean.

 

Enough said.

 

 

CA Marine Life and Death

From Los Angeles Times:

The current outbreak of toxic algae off the Los Angeles Harbor is the most virulent on record, scientists say, so overburdening animal rehabilitation centers that some sickened sea lions are temporarily left to fend for themselves on Los Angeles County beaches. ...

Although the algae, called Pseudo-nitzschia have long been in ocean waters in diluted concentrations, a shift occurred in 1998 when dense, virulent blooms were followed by waves of sick marine mammals and seabirds washing ashore in Central and Southern California. Similar episodes have recurred every year since, producing unusual growths of the algae that sometimes produce more of the toxin.

Scientists cannot explain the change. Some theorize that unusual currents are bringing nutrients up from the seafloor. Others attribute the problem to the influx of nitrogen and nutrients that spew from sewer pipes and wash off the land.

Many experts believe that over-harvesting of fish that used to keep algae in check contributes to the problem, and many blame coastal development that has removed 95% of California shoreline wetlands that once filtered coastal waters.

And the best answer is E.  All of the Above, but I'm partial to highlighted D. Coastal Development.  This is closely related to answer B. Sewer and Storm Sewer spewings. 

Sad bad time to be a marine animal, marine animal lover, or a marine animal eater.

 

Nominating 2008

Interesting Denver Post article:   New Game, New Rules

Eight months out, and the 2008 primary calendar remains in flux, with major players such as Illinois and Texas, and a whole contingent of Western states, still deciding when and how to stage their contests.   The only certainty is uncertainty.       

... "I believe the nominating process is fundamentally different this year. There are a lot of forces coming together that could lead to a whole different dynamic," says (Tad) Devine, an expert on the delegate selection process.

Those forces:       

No hierarchical favorite. For the first time since 1928, there will be no incumbent president or vice president running in either party this year.

Fundraising depth. At their current pace, there are probably eight to 10 candidates who will raise enough money - about $20 million - to pay for the necessary travel, staff and advertising to qualify as national candidates, and six who may raise $75 million or more. That increases the chances, Devine says, that the first four or five contests will yield split decisions.

Proportional representation. Both parties have done away with winner-take-all primaries and award delegates on a proportional basis, with fewer convention seats reserved for elected officials and other power brokers. Even a candidate who finishes third in the Feb. 5 primaries might still pick up hundreds of delegates and stay in the race.

Favorite daughter and sons. If, as expected, New York, North Carolina, Illinois, Arizona and Michigan all decide to vote that day, the top three presidential candidates of each party will have a home state anchoring their campaign on Feb. 5. (Because his father and mother were both prominent Republican officials in Michigan, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney counts it as one of his "home" states.)

Historic candidacies. The GOP's Romney, Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would shatter various ethnic, gender or religious ceilings if elected. Their supporters, therefore, may be expected to stick with them even if their candidacies hit rough seas.

Street Sense

Street Sense roared from next-to-last in a 20-horse field to win the Kentucky Derby, putting trainer Carl Nafzger back in the winner's circle 17 years after his first visit.  The colt broke two Derby jinxes to score the win under jockey Calvin Borel, who was 0-for-4 in the race.

Denver Post and best AP photo by Amy Sancetta who wouldn't mind me posting it since I don't do this for money but for the glory of the horse and she'll never know anyway.  What a great race.  Seven is my lucky number and that had something to do with the broken jinx surely.   That and how he ran the last quarter mile.       

Versions of the AP story like this one describe the final moments:

Borel still had a snug hold on the reins as Street Sense turned for home. A quarter of a mile from the finish, Borel finally moved Street Sense to the outside and they accelerated away from the pack. They quickly reeled in Hard Spun, catching him in the final eighth of a mile as Borel sneaked a peek over his right shoulder as he approached the finish line.
Once they crossed it, Borel thrust his whip in the air in celebration, getting his first Derby win in five tries.

Interesting they put that fine of a point on when he started celebrating.  He was distinctly making-happy before crossing the finish line.  The race announcers remarked on it and it even surprised his horse a little.   

Mayday Basket of Human Rights

Happy Mayday.

SWOP blogger has news of Immigrant Rights marches in Santa Fe and in Albuquerque today.   

I looked for news of  this or workers' celebrations, but there isn't a breath about Mayday in any most papers.  No workers in the news, celebrating or not. 

Much less any may baskets. 

But  Houston Chronicle comes through again.

Last year on May 1, hoping to influence Congress to adopt legislation making illegal immigrants legal, hundreds of thousands of immigrants held marches and work stoppages across the country. Today, there will be another round of rallies and marches, but this time immigrants will also be protesting a surge in deportations.

The events are expected to be much smaller than a year ago, organizers said, as stepped-up enforcement by the authorities has made illegal immigrants wary of protesting in public and more doubtful that Congress will soon act to give them a chance at legalization.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, facing intense political pressure to toughen enforcement, removed 221,664 illegal immigrants from the country over the last year, an increase of more than 37,000 — about 20 percent — over the year before.

No human is illegal.   

Opening Day

Our government may be going to hell but hey, it's Opening Day!  How can you feel bad about much of anything on Opening Day?  The world is alive with positive potential. 

"There is no sports event like Opening Day of baseball, the sense of beating back the forces of darkness and the National Football League." -- George Vecsey  (Wiki)

Time begins, washed and fresh, Opening Day. 

Might wear Rockies pajamas to work today

and repeat the new shortstop's name - it's fun to say

Troy Tulowitzki, Troy Tulowitzki, Troy Tulowitzki.